Oil firms offer Pertamina swap scheme

A number of oil and gas companies have offered state oil and gas company PT Pertamina a swap scheme in order to gain access to the firm?s oil and gas fields in Indonesia.

Pertamina has offered opportunities for local and foreign oil and gas companies to jointly develop many of its concessions which remain untapped. The offer has drawn responses from hundreds of companies.

Some of the firms, including Staat Oil, Shell, Petronas, PTT Thailand and Anadarko, offered a stake in their concessions in Indonesia and outside the country in return for a stake in Pertamina?s fields, according to Tri Siwindono, development director of Pertamina?s upstream arm PT Pertamina E&P.

?The concessions that attract most interests are those located in Sumatra and East Java,? Tri said on Monday.

For instance, he said, Petronas offered Pertamina a stake in its concession in Morocco, while Staat Oil offered its block in Algiers and Anadarko its block in the United States.

?There is no decision yet. But, we are interested in blocks outside the country because in business, oil and gas companies usually have concessions outside their home countries in order to increase its leverage,? he said.

Tri further explained that Pertamina was particularly interested in blocks in North Africa, West Africa and Middle East.

?We are eying blocks where the companies (that offer the blocks to Pertamina) are the sole owners. This is because if they already have partners there, the partners will have the first right of refusal,? he said. (Godang)